A new recording of the 1984 charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” hit British record stores, many of which opened early in anticipation of large crowds.
The single features artists including Coldplay’s Chris Martin, former Beatle Paul McCartney, U2’s Bono and Dido. The recording will raise money for victims of the ongoing strife in the Sudan, where fighting has killed thousands of people and created 1.8 million refugees.
HMV Records, one of Britain’s largest music retailers, opened more than 200 stores an hour early, at 8 a.m., Monday and reported strong early morning sales.
“There wasn’t a huge rush of people, but a steady stream of customers this morning,” said Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesman for HMV. “I don’t know that it’s going to be the smash success that the original was, but I think it will do quite well and raise quite a bit of money for Africa.”
Castaldo said he expects the single to sell at least 1 million copies and to top the singles charts in Britain for several weeks.
HMV and other retailers were selling the single for $7.55.
The song retails for $2.82 at online distributors.
Apple’s iTunes, the popular online music store, wasn’t carrying the single because it declined to sell the song for more than the service’s $1.50 base price. An Apple spokesman in London declined Monday to comment on its dispute with the Band Aid trust over the cost of the recording.
Bob Geldof wrote “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 1984 with Midge Ure for a superstar group they called Band Aid, featuring artists including Boy George, Duran Duran and Phil Collins. Bono is the only artist to appear on both versions of the song.
The original record raised millions for those starving in Ethiopia.